Evaluation of augmented reality technology in global urologic surgery

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced opportunities for surgical skill sharing between high-income and low to middle-income countries. Augmented reality (AR) technology allows mentors in one country to virtually train a mentee in another country during surgical cases without international travel. We hypothesize that AR technology is an effective live surgical training and mentorship modality. Methods: Three senior urologic surgeons in the US and UK worked with four urologic surgeon trainees across the continent of Africa using AR systems. Trainers and trainees individually completed post-operative questionnaires evaluating their experience. Results: Trainees rated the quality of virtual training as equivalent to in-person training in 83% of cases (N = 5 of 6 responses). Trainers reported the technology's visual quality as “acceptable” in 67% of cases (N = 12 of 18 responses). The audiovisual capabilities of the technology had a “high” impact in the majority of the cases. Conclusion: AR technology can effectively facilitate surgical training when in-person training is limited or unavailable.